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When the Sky Breaks: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and the Worst Weather in the World
New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester looks at which way the wind blows in this exciting book about giant storms.
Simon Winchester is an avid weather watcher. He’s scanned the skies in Oklahoma, waiting for the ominous “finger” of a tornado to touch the Earth. He’s hunkered down in Hong Kong when typhoon warning signals went up. He’s visited the world’s hottest and wettest places, reported on fierce whirlpools, and sailed around South Africa looking for freak winds and waves.
He knows about the worst weather in the world.
A master nonfiction storyteller, Winchester looks at how, when, where, and why hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and tornadoes start brewing, how they build, and what happens when these giant storms hit. His lively narrative also includes an historical look at how we learned about weather systems and where we’re headed because of climate change. Stunning photographs illustrate the power of these giant storms.
Simon Winchester is an avid weather watcher. He’s scanned the skies in Oklahoma, waiting for the ominous “finger” of a tornado to touch the Earth. He’s hunkered down in Hong Kong when typhoon warning signals went up. He’s visited the world’s hottest and wettest places, reported on fierce whirlpools, and sailed around South Africa looking for freak winds and waves.
He knows about the worst weather in the world.
A master nonfiction storyteller, Winchester looks at how, when, where, and why hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and tornadoes start brewing, how they build, and what happens when these giant storms hit. His lively narrative also includes an historical look at how we learned about weather systems and where we’re headed because of climate change. Stunning photographs illustrate the power of these giant storms.
- GenresNonfictionScienceNature
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 31, 2017
24 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
About the author
Simon Winchester
91 books2,308 followersSimon Winchester, OBE, is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel, and his articles appear in several travel publications including Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.
After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.
Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.
Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.
After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.
Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.
Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 11, 2023
I live along the Gulf Coast of Texas and I've experienced Hurricane Carla, Tropical Storm Claudette, Hurricane Alicia, Hurricane Ike, and (a few weeks ago) Hurricane Harvey.
I know a lot about hurricanes.
Or so I thought.
Simon Winchester takes on hurricanes along with tornadoes and other storms in this book. He's a clever fellow who does research (lots of it!) and is also able to explain difficult ideas to those of us who weren't really listening carefully in science class.
I know a lot about hurricanes.
Or so I thought.
Simon Winchester takes on hurricanes along with tornadoes and other storms in this book. He's a clever fellow who does research (lots of it!) and is also able to explain difficult ideas to those of us who weren't really listening carefully in science class.
September 5, 2021
I learned a lot more from reading this book, than watching some television meteorologist with a bad haircut prattle away. A very human approach, and some very interesting science which I managed to grasp. Winchester is never pedantic in his descriptions, and he introduces things of a political and populous nature which surprised and delighted. I am on to more of his books.
October 12, 2017
Super interesting and well-written. This should be required reading for all Americans who think that climate change isn't a thing but also by anyone who wonders why we are having such huge storms and what causes them in the first place.
I do have a "beef" with the publisher, though. The book's information and writing level and the large swatches of text without headings or photos implies to me that this book is for high school students to even adults. Yet, the cover size (the size of a children's book) implies that the publisher is marketing this book to middle grade students or even younger. I've said this before, but maybe you haven't read it when I've written it---high school students do not want to read a book which looks like a children's picture book. Why couldn't this book have been published in a a more typical size for adult nonfiction books? The photographs could have been reorganized to take up the whole of one page, or even covering both sides of opposite pages. It has a Lexile Level of: 1180L, which implies that it should be appropriate reading for a student in late 10th grade or early 11th grade.
I do have a "beef" with the publisher, though. The book's information and writing level and the large swatches of text without headings or photos implies to me that this book is for high school students to even adults. Yet, the cover size (the size of a children's book) implies that the publisher is marketing this book to middle grade students or even younger. I've said this before, but maybe you haven't read it when I've written it---high school students do not want to read a book which looks like a children's picture book. Why couldn't this book have been published in a a more typical size for adult nonfiction books? The photographs could have been reorganized to take up the whole of one page, or even covering both sides of opposite pages. It has a Lexile Level of: 1180L, which implies that it should be appropriate reading for a student in late 10th grade or early 11th grade.
June 7, 2017
A detailed and scientifically accurate book. Not particularly engaging to read. It almost reads like a textbook with a lot of information and no "story line". I found it pretty interesting because I was trained as a meteorologist and I know the science and I love this topic. I think for most people this will be a tough read. If you are a big weather enthusiast it will probably be great. For the other 95% of the population some of the photos will be cool, but the text will be tough to get though.
Read
February 6, 2020This was a ton better than I thought it was going to be (though this is coming from someone who hates thinking about or talking about weather), and I genuinely learned a lot, partially thanks to a narrative that was neither patronizing nor over my head (nor too boring). Who knew that El Nino was related to a lack of sardines for Peruvian fishermen at Christmas, for example? I would recommend this to anyone who wants to dip their toe into the ocean (ha ha ha) of climate change from what felt to me like as close as one could come to an apolitical perspective.
June 23, 2021
the book was about hurricanes mostly and gave interesting facts about them. the book talked about famous storms, how damage they did, and how much they cost in damage. what really stuck out to me hurricane sandy when it hits Australia. the most interesting fact was the water level in the ocean rises a foot every decade. it also talks about the infamous tri-state tornado which killed a lot of people and was one of the most devastating Tornadoes in US history.
June 28, 2017
This middle grade informational text is packed with fascinating details about storms and the weather patterns that generate them. Winchester has a flair for the dramatic with his writing while never straying from fact, and spectacular photographs support his work. A Sibert contender.
Four stars instead of five because of the book's design. This title is incredibly text-dense, made more eye-wearying by the larger trim size--which was of course a good decision as it flatters the impressive photography. The font works well for this informational text, so I hope the interior editor considers chapter breaks or headers for some visual space and structure in future editions (and subsequent titles in this Smithsonian/Penguin partnership).
Four stars instead of five because of the book's design. This title is incredibly text-dense, made more eye-wearying by the larger trim size--which was of course a good decision as it flatters the impressive photography. The font works well for this informational text, so I hope the interior editor considers chapter breaks or headers for some visual space and structure in future editions (and subsequent titles in this Smithsonian/Penguin partnership).
September 11, 2018
This book is very informational about the weather. It follows the author, Simon Winchester, and his encounters with some very well known storms. If your classroom is doing unit over hurricanes, tornados, or almost any other severe storm this book would be great to have on hand in the classroom!
May 12, 2018
Lots of fun, and learned a lot. I can highly recommend this!
April 13, 2019
too short
November 12, 2020
663 - 2020
January 18, 2021
My daughter is fascinated by weather, especially tornadoes and hurricanes, so this was an excellent fit! Great pictures!
March 25, 2021
The detail in this book can get to be a bit much but it is worth reading.
June 3, 2022
A great read for those who are interested in meteorology and its history.
July 19, 2022
Has its moments all related to weathers and the science behind. 4 Stars.
May 11, 2023
An excellent resource used for our class unit.
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September 17, 2017A fascinating book for anyone interested in weather - hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons. Causes and predicting. Great pictures. A little technical, but most people can understand it. Simon Winchester is a fantastic writer and does his research. I highly recommend this book.
February 3, 2017
So much information! Great for a young weather enthusiast.
April 13, 2017
very interesting. wide range of information on different weather phenomenons. sidebars within text did not disrupt the flow of information or split sentences(thank you). great selection of weather pictures.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews